A 300-metre nuclear-powered research ship with 22 laboratories in a 13-storey glass “science dome” will carry hundreds of scientists and environmentalists on voyages to study climate change, says Ian Taylor in Science Focus. Earth 300 is being built by Aaron Olivera, 42, a Gibraltar-born entrepreneur “with a shade of Tony Stark about him”. He wants to bring together “an Avengers-style team of scientists” to collaborate on climate solutions.
The ship will have a million built-in sensors, advanced robotics and the world’s first “ocean-going quantum computer”. All information will be open-source, accessible to scientists around the world. And Earth 300 will be emission-free. A molten-salt reactor to generate atomic energy, using tech developed by TerraPower, a “nuclear innovation” firm set up by Bill Gates. None of this comes cheap: the ship will cost between £350m and £500m to build. To finance it, Olivera is selling VIP tickets to spend 10 days in a luxury cabin for £2.2m a pop, redeemable once they’ve finished building it sometime in 2025.